Kundalini is a powerful force of both dangerous and enlightening spiritual energy. First described by Indian yogis and Buddhist monks, the concept of a kundalini awakening is now incorporated into many New Age beliefs. Find out more about this mystical, life-altering experience and how it can enrich your life.

According to Indian yogis, kundalini is the spiritual energy of complete consciousness. This energy lies dormant in the root chakra at the base of the spine, and can be “awakened” through devout meditation – or sometimes spontaneously – to allow a person to reach enlightenment. The name kundalini is a Sanskrit word meaning “snake” or “serpent power,” because this energy is thought to be coiled at the base of the spine like a snake.

This powerful, often overwhelming experience brings a person to a higher plane of consciousness. To achieve this state, a person meditates by practicing a specific form of yoga in order to awaken kundalini. When his kundalini is awakened, he feels a heat rising from the base of his spine, traveling up his back. As it moves upward, the kundalini activates other chakras in the body until it reaches the crown chakra and brings illumination. With enough practice raising kundalini to the crown chakra, a person can harness that energy permanently.

What is a kundalini awakening like?Kundalini’s power is said to be extremely intense, even indescribable. Some people liken it to a freight train or a feeling of liquid fire running up the spine. When a person tries to raise his kundalini to different chakras, he may tremble, shudder or rock violently from side to side. He may experience auditory hallucinations, feel extreme heat or cold, or see different forms of light, including inner light.

Gopi Krishna, a devout Indian yogi and kundalini teacher, describes his own experience in several books, including The Awakening of Kundalini. For 17 years, he meditated for 3 hours every morning. Then, one morning, he felt an explosion of kundalini energy rocketing up his spine. He felt as if he were thrust out of his own body and enveloped in a halo of light. His consciousness expanded in every direction.

When he experienced a second awakening, it proved too much for him to handle. He was plunged into 12 years of despair, during which he volleyed between indescribable states of bliss and ecstasy and horrifying bouts of mental turmoil and agony. After 12 years, he said his mind and body finally adapted to this new energy and he began to feel normal again. However, he found that he had profoundly changed. Everything he saw seemed to emanate a silvery light. He heard music coming from within himself (what kundalini texts refer to as the “unstruck melody”), and his creativity seemed to overflow as he began to write poetry and books.

Many people feel compelled to change their lifestyles after experiencing a kundalini awakening. They find that they must alter certain habits, such as their diet, their sleep patterns and even their sexual activity, in order to achieve later success awakening their kundalini again.

Who believes in kundalini or practices kundalini meditation? Descriptions of kundalini awakenings originated with Indian yogis and are discussed in many Hindu Tantric and Buddhist Tantric sacred texts. However, descriptions of experiences similar to kundalini have been found in cultures all over the world – in China, Egypt and Tibet – and in some Native American and African tribes. Kundalini is also referenced in the Koran, the Bible and works by several Greek philosophers.

Several New Age religious and spiritual sects have adopted the idea of kundalini, although they view it as more of an altered state of consciousness brought on spontaneously through the use of psychedelic drugs, deep meditation or a near-death experience. It has become increasingly popular since the 1970s, when the concept of kundalini first became well-known in the Western world.

How do you awaken your own kundalini?Sometimes people experience a kundalini awakening spontaneously, for no reason at all. For the most part, however, achieving an experience of kundalini awakening requires years of intense meditation and training. There is even a special type of kundalini yoga that is meant to help facilitate an awakening. Hatha Yoga, as it is traditionally practiced (not the kind of hatha yoga you can find at your local fitness center) teaches breathing techniques and physical postures that are meant to incite a kundalini awakening. Other forms of yoga meant to stimulate a kundalini awakening include Mantra Yoga, Laya Yoga and Kriya Yoga.

To achieve an awakening, you will also need to go through extensive kundalini training –probably with a true kundalini teacher – to help you through prolonged periods of meditation. Kundalini texts also state that a person needs “good fortune” for the process to succeed – in other words, experiencing a kundalini awakening is partially just a matter of luck.

A person’s kundalini may also be awakened by performing selfless acts of service, or through intellectual study. However, these methods are extremely slow, and may take even more time to succeed.

Is a kundalini awakening dangerous?One unpleasant side effect of awakening kundalini is pain. Some people believe that a kundalini experience opens new pathways in the body’s nervous system. The nervous system is flooded with so much unexpected energy so quickly that it cannot process the sensation properly, and so it interprets this as pain.

Yogis also warn that a kundalini awakening can have devastating effects to an untrained person. If your body and mind are not properly prepared for the experience, it is possible that a particularly intense awakening can cause insanity or even death.

It is said that, in a true awakening, the force of the kundalini overpowers a person’s ego, which can cause extreme disorientation, psychological discomfort and a feeling of social alienation. Like Gopi Krishna, you may find yourself alternating between periods of extreme bliss and profound awareness and periods of deep mental and emotional anguish before your body stabilizes at a higher plane of realization.

For these reasons, it is extremely important to have a kundalini teacher with you to guide you through what may be a very unsettling experience. Skilled kundalini teachers are not honored for being able to create a kundalini awakening within their students; rather, they are respected for their ability to support their students during and after a kundalini awakening occurs.

Most of us will never experience a kundalini awakening. This life-changing phenomenon requires years of intense discipline and patience. However, the quest for kundalini – through yoga, meditation and kundalini training – is a noble one that can enrich your life. If nothing else, kundalini is a testament to the fact that there are spiritual forces at work in the world, and the human body is perhaps one of the most mysterious forces of all.

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